From Adam and Israel to the Church: A Biblical Theology of the People of God (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology)

by Benjamin L. Gladd

Understanding the already–not yet can be a bit tricky, so I’ll attempt an illustration. One benefit of having a Sam’s Club membership is their unrivaled food samples. From meat to sweet tea, Sam’s Club provides daily samples to their customers. I find myself ignoring my shopping list and heading straight to their buffet of samples. The samples are just that—samples of the actual food. They are not analogous or cheap knockoffs; they are the real thing, only on a smaller scale. Perhaps the same could be said of inaugurated eschatology. Take, for example, the already–not yet of our resurrection. As Christians, we have already been raised with Christ on a spiritual level, but we await our full and final resurrection at Christ’s second coming. Even our spiritual resurrection that takes place upon conversion is in part. We have a sample of what is to come. Our resurrection is indeed genuine, but it remains partial. We still have indwelling sin, and all of our thoughts and actions are tainted with sin. But when Christ returns we will experience a complete and thorough resurrection.